


New friends

by SilverWolf96



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Adventure, Alcohol, Bunnit, Curry, Danger, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Sweet wasabi, fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-10
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-05-19 12:55:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5968080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverWolf96/pseuds/SilverWolf96
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story takes Place pre-game, soon after Shulk comes to Colony 9. When Dickson has to go on another trip, he asks Dunban to look after Shulk (because even he knows better than to leave a Young Child all alone) Shulk gains some new friends and finds his favorite hang-out spot in the colony.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The meeting

Hello, here’s another Xenoblade fanfic. Been a while since I’ve written anything, since I’ve been playing Xenoblade Chronicles X a lot. Really big game, after 70h I’ve just completed chapter 6. Yay.  
Anyway, this takes place pre-game, a few months after Dickson brings Shulk to Colony 9. So, Fiora and Reyn are 5, Shulk just turned 5, Dunban is just a couple of months from 18 and Dickson is “31”. They’re probably somewhat ooc, hope that’s okay. And Reyns parents aren’t dead yet, but Dunban and Fioras are.  
Anyway, here’s a new story, please read and review :)  
New friends

~Late at night, at a bar in Colony 9~  
Dunban and Dickson were having a drink at their usual bar after yet another successful mission. They had been of in Tephra cave, hunting some lizards that were trying to make a nest there. Them building a nest in the cave wouldn’t be a problem in itself, but they were trying to build it right where people needed to walk to get ether cylinders.  
Dickson was sitting in his chair, feet kicked up on the table in front of them, legs crossed at the ankles, with a beer in his hand, looking as relaxed as one could. Dunban, who was just barely not eighteen yet, was sitting next to his friend, sipping his soda.  
Dickson grinned at Dunban, raising his glass in a toast.  
“Here’s to a mission well done” and took a long swig from his glass.  
Dunban took a smaller mouthful of his own drink and eyed the bandage around Dicksons left arm, where he had gotten bit by one of the lizards when it had tried to jump at Dunban from behind. Dickson had reacted quickly, and caught the thing on his arm before shooting it. He had reassured Dunban several times that it wasn’t serious, that it was just a scratch, but it didn’t make the younger man feel any less guilty for it.  
“Yeah” he mumbled. “Could have gone better, though” Like no-one getting injured, he thought to himself. Dickson seemed to pick up on his thoughts, and patted him lightly on the arm.  
“Hey, didn’t I tell you not to worry about it?” he lightly chided Dunban, casually tipping back his chair so he was balancing it on two legs. “We’re a team now, that means we watch each others backs.” He paused slightly to take another swig from his drink. “Maybe next time it’s you saving my skin.”  
“Hmm...” Dunban agreed, kind of. “How’s that kid you’re looking after?” He decided to change the subject.  
“Yeah, Shulk. He’s fine.” Dickson answered somewhat absent-mindedly, before letting his chair fall back down on all four with a loud ‘thump ‘. “Oh, yeah! I needed to talk to you about something” he apparently just remembered.  
“Yeah, what?” Dunban asked curiously, one eyebrow raised. Dickson took a few moments to pull out a cigarette and lighting it, before explaining.  
“I need to go on another trip in a couple of days, since we’re running out of stuff in the lab.” Dunban nodded, not really understanding what it got to do with him. “So I thought leaving a kid who just got here a few months ago all alone for two weeks isn’t maybe such a good idea.” Again, Dunban nodded. He wasn’t too keen on leaving Fiora alone for even a day, and she had grown up in the colony. He was somewhat surprised his friend had been so considerate. It wasn’t like Dickson didn’t like kids, it was more like he didn’t quite know what to do with them. “So I thought you could look after him while I’m gone.”  
Dunban took a moment to think about it. It shouldn’t be too much of a bother, since he was already looking after his little sister. Having another kid around her age might also be good for her, since she had been quite lonely since their parents died about a year ago. He looked up at Dickson and nodded, smiling slightly.  
“Sure, shouldn’t be a problem.” Dickson seemed content, tipping his chair back and taking another swig from his drink.  
“Good” he said. “I’ll just drop him of at your place, then” and left it at that. He grabbed his glass again, only to notice it was empty. He grabbed the bottle from the middle of the table and poured himself another glass. He then pored the rest of the bottle into Dunbans now empty glass, since he had been sipping his drink all evening. “Here, have a drink.”  
“You know I’m not eighteen yet” Dunban tried to protest, but Dickson just waved him of.  
“Just a couple of months short, no big deal” He pushed the glass into Dunbans hands. “Come on, live a little!” Dunban picked up the glass, shrugged deciding ‘why not?’ and took a small sip, trying out the new drink. The strong alcohol burned in his mouth and down his throat, before settling in his stomach, giving off a warm and content feeling. The after-taste wasn’t too bad, either. He took another, slightly bigger sip, shuddering slightly at the strength of the drink.  
He looked at Dickson, who was observing him, looking somewhat amused. “It’s good” he mumbled, putting the glass down on the table; it was empty now anyway.  
“Wouldn’t drink it if it wasn’t” Dickson pointed out.  
A couple of hours and a few drinks later (well, Dunban had only had one more, but Dickson had seven... Honestly, Dunban was surprised the man was able to walk straight... ) the two finally decided to leave the bar. They parted ways at the bridges, where Dickson headed toward the military district and Dunban toward the commercial district.  
“I’ll see you in a couple of days, then?” Dunban said as they were parting ways. Dickson turned half around, lazily waving at him.  
“Yeah, see ya then.”  
~A few days later, at Dunbans house~  
A few days after the mission and their bar night, Dunban was explaining to his five-year-old sister they would be having company for a couple of weeks, and that she should be nice and maybe she could be friends with this boy.  
Fiora was not too excited at the thought of some strange boy living with them.  
“Come on, Fiora” Dunban was trying to reason with her. “You could at least try to be nice to him. You don’t even know him.” Fiora pouted at this, but agreed.  
“Fine.” She held up a finger and pointed at her brother. “But if he’s a jerk, then I won’t be nice to him any-more” she declared, making Dunban sigh.  
“Fine” he agreed, really hoping this kid was the sweetest thing on the Bionis. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. “That’ll be Dickson with the kid” Dunban guessed, going to open it.  
It was indeed Dickson standing behind the door. His gunblade was slung over his shoulder and he was holding a bag in his left hand, which he handed over to Dunban. At Dunbans confused face, he quickly explained.  
“Made some food for you and the kids, I know what your cooking skills are like” he said somewhat teasingly. Dunban took a look at the contents of the bag. Some food, indeed, Nothing fancy, but nice, considering his own cooking skills were pretty much limited to toast and canned soup.  
“Thanks” he said, before asking what he had been wondering since he opened the door “So, where’s the kid?”  
“Right!” Dickson exclaimed, before reaching behind himself and pulling out a small boy who had been hiding behind his legs. “This is Shulk” he introduced the boy, who was holding some stuffed animal, trying to look as small and unnoticeable as possible. He had light blond hair and large blue eyes. If Dunban didn’t know better, he could probably believe the kid to be related to Dickson, who also had blond hair and blue eyes, just darker shade than the kids.  
“He’s a bit shy” Dickson explained. He crouched down to the boy and put his hand on his head, slightly ruffling the blond hair. “Be good, okay?” he talked calmly to the kid in a gentle voice Dunban didn’t know he was capable of. “Dunban’s a nice guy, and his sister is a nice kid. You’ll probably be best friends in no time”  
Shulk nodded slightly, looking shyly at Dunban and then Fiora. He also managed a small smile.  
“All right” Dickson announced, getting up. “I’m off” He waved slightly before leaving, slamming the door closed behind him.  
Leaving Shulk standing in the middle of the room with Dunban and Fiora. Fiora walked over to the boy, extending her hand with a small smile.  
“Hello, I’m Fiora” Shulk looked at her extended hand a few seconds before taking it.  
“Hello, I’m Shulk” he introduced himself in a quiet voice. He held the stuffed toy closer to himself, looking quite lost and uncertain.  
“Fiora, why don’t you and Shulk go play outside?” Dunban suggested. “Maybe you can show him around the colony a bit more.” He turned to address Shulk. “Dickson told me you haven’t seen a lot of the colony other than the military district and the commercial district, is that true?” Shulk nodded slightly.  
“Yes, I didn’t want to go alone” he added. Dunban nodded., before turning back to his sister.  
“So you could take Shulk to the residential district and maybe outlook park?” Fiora nodded enthusiastically. “Just don’t go outside the colony, or you might get attacked by monsters” Dunban added as a warning, which made Fiora roll her eyes.  
“Yes, yes, I know. You say that every time I go somewhere” She turned to Shulk and grabbed his arm, practically dragging him out the door. “Come on, let’s go!”  
“Just be back to dinner!” Dunban called after them, as the door slammed shut.  
~Residential district, a few minutes later~  
After a few minutes, the two kids had ran through the commercial district and crossed the bridges to the residential district. Shulk was staring wide-eyed at the buildings, the people and the children running around.  
Fiora sat down on a nearby bench, patting the space next to her for Shulk to sit down as well.  
“This is the residential district” Fiora told him. “This is where most people live” She turned to Shulk. “Dunban said you live in the military district with Mr.Dickson.” Shulk nodded.  
“Yes. I think he lives there because he spends so much time in the lab. It’s right next to his house.” Fiora stopped to think about what Shulk just had said.  
“But it’s your house too, right? Since you live with him.” Shulk looked a bit uncertain.  
“I don’t know. Mr.Dickson is nice and he lets me work with some small machines and I like him, but sometimes I feel like he doesn’t want me there...”  
He looked so sad at the thought, Fiora couldn’t help giving him a big hug. Whenever she felt sad, Dunban would hug her and she would always feel better.  
“I don’t think he doesn’t like you” she told him. “Dunban once said he thought it was surprising that Mr.Dickson wanted to take care of you, because he hasn’t really had anything to do with kids. He probably doesn’t know what to do with you.”  
She paused slightly, wondering if she should tell him about her own experience. She decided to, so Shulk would know she understood him.  
“Our parents died a year ago” she told him quietly, her eyes tearing up at the memory. “And Dunban has taken care of me ever since.” She paused to wipe the tears now rolling down her cheeks. “At first, he didn’t really know what to do either, but it got better.”  
Shulk put his arms around Fiora to comfort her, since she seemed so sad. They sat there for a few minutes, until they both felt better. Fiora smiled at him and got up from the bench.  
“You know, we should be friends” she declared. Shulk tilted his head, thinking about this. Friends sounded nice, and Mr.Dickson had said he should make some friends, so he wouldn’t spend all his time in the lab. He got up from the bench and nodded at Fiora.  
“Sure, sounds good. Let’s be friends.” Fiora beamed with happiness, grabbing his hand.  
“Great! I still have to show you the outlook park, so let’s go there!” She pulled him along as she was talking.  
“What’s outlook park?” Shulk asked, having heard the name before, but not knowing what it was.  
“It’s my favourite place in the colony!” Fiora told him. “It’s a small park, and you can see the entire colony from up there, and - ” Shulk never found out what else she was going to say about outlook park, because they were suddenly tackled by something and ended up on the ground.  
A closer look let Shulk know they had ran into a boy about their age with flaming red hair. He was angrily glaring at them.  
“Hey, watch where you’re going!” he yelled at them, making Shulk take a step back in fear. Fiora on the other hand, stepped forward with an equally angry look on her face.  
“Why don’t you look where you’re going! We were talking, but you just ran into us!” she angrily told him. The boy looked surprised, apparently not expecting her to talk back at him.  
“Well, I was going to Giorgio’s for curry with my parents! I was in a hurry because I’m hungry and then you just got in my way!” When Shulk and Fiora looked around, they noticed two adults who were probably his parents walking in their direction. The woman had the same kind of red hair and the man was carrying a massive sword over his shoulder.  
“My parents are solders in the defence force” he told them, sounding quite proud. “When I grow up, I’m going to join the defence force, too.” Fiora didn’t seem very impressed.  
“So what?” she asked him. “My brother is in the defence force, and my parents were in the defence force” she told him before pointing at Shulk “And Shulks guardian is in the defence force”  
After this, the boy looked somewhat less irritated and calmed down.  
“Oh” he said quietly “Didn’t know that.” He scratched the back of his neck somewhat sheepishly. “Sorry. And sorry for running into you.” He extended his hand to them.  
“I’m Reyn” he introduced himself. Fiora and Shulk both shook his hand and introduced themselves.  
By now, Reyns parents had caught up to him and asked him if he was ready for dinner now. He left with them after saying goodbye to Fiora and Shulk. “See ya later!” he told them when he went.  
Fiora sighed once they couldn’t see the redhead any-more. “He was weird” she commented. Shulk nodded in agreement.  
“Maybe we’ll see him again” he said, not really sure whether or not he wanted to meet this brute of a boy again.  
“Hmm... ” Fiora seemed to agree. “Well, let’s go to outlook park now, so we can make it back before dinner.”  
“All right” he agreed with her, wanting to see this place she liked so much. He paused slightly to pick up the stuffed animal he had dropped when they ran into Reyn, and followed Fiora as she led the way.  
They walked over a small bridge, separating the residential district from the surrounding area. They walked up several staircases before arriving at outlook park. There wasn’t much there, just some trees and benches, but it was nice. There was no one else there and the whole place was very peaceful, with a small breeze flowing through.  
“This is a nice place” Shulk told Fiora, who seemed very happy at this. She grabbed his arm and pulled him to the fence.  
“Look” she said, pointing over the railing. “You can see the entire colony from here.” She let him admire the view for a few moments before pulling him over to a bench.  
“I always come here when I’m in a bad mood, and it makes me feel all better.” She leaned back with a content sigh. “It’s so peaceful..”  
When Shulk leaned back and sat there next to her, Fiora decided that having Shulk stay with them for a couple of weeks wouldn’t be so bad. They were probably going to spend time together after that, too. They were friends now, after all.  
　　*************  
Well, this didn’t turn out like I planned originally, but I thought ‘Meh ’ and decided to leave it as it was. It was going to be more Shulk and Fiora than it has, more Reyn as well. It was Dunban and Dicksons fault! Damn, took me almost two pages to get the guys out of the bar!  
Reyn seems kind of like a jerk here, but they become friends later (Maybe they bond over dead parents or something...)


	2. Adventure

Well, I added a second chapter to this. It’s not a sequel, but close enough, right? Some of the things in this chapter were supposed to be in the first, but I put them here instead.  
Also, I want to say that these five-year-olds probably don’t act anything like real five-year-olds. It could be partially because people mature quicker on Bionis, with mechon attacks and even the local wildlife being threats to them unless they stay in town all the time. Also, I don’t haven’t had anything to do with any five-year-old since my cousin’s children were five, which was ten years ago. And I was ten back then. In other words, ooc characters are ooc.  
Anyway, enjoy!

Dinner time

It had been a few hours since the kids had left, and Dunban was starting to wonder where they had gone off to. It shouldn’t take this long to show someone around the colony. Then again… Fiora would sometimes space out at Outlook Park, and would probably sit there for hours if someone didn’t drag her off. And Shulk didn’t seem to have enough confidence to do something like that.  
Well, he thought looking outside. It was a nice day, all sunny and warm, with a nice breeze. Maybe they should eat out today, and save the food Dickson brought for another day. After all, he did have a few days off from training, so he might as well make use of them.  
He made sure to grab some cash before setting out for Outlook Park.

******

Shulk was roused from his daze by footsteps heading their way. He glanced at Fiora, but she didn’t seem to have noticed, so he carefully turned around to see the person approaching them. It was Dunban.  
The man noticed Shulk looking at him and held a finger in front of his mouth, asking Shulk to keep quiet. Shulk looked slightly confused, but did as he was asked. He saw Dunban quietly sneak up behind Fiora, who didn’t notice anything being almost half-asleep. He grinned at Shulk mischievously before scooping up his sister and slung her over his shoulder.  
Fiora snapped out of her daze with a loud screech, startled and confused. It didn’t take her long to realize her situation and just who had ‘attacked’ her.  
“Dunban!” she yelled at him while squirming and trying to get out of his grip. “Put me down!” Dunban chuckled slightly, swinging her around a few times while dodging her flailing arms, before putting her down. She huffed and glared at him angrily, making him scratch the back of his head, even managing to look somewhat sheepish. He was still smiling, though.  
“Sorry, Fiora” he said, not looking sorry in the slightest and still grinning. “I couldn’t help it, the opportunity was just too perfect.” Fiora now seemed to be thinking about it while glaring at her brother, and a few moments later she nodded, looking all serious.  
“All right, I forgive you.” She held up a finger, still looking at Dunban with a glare. “If you buy some Cute Parsnip for desert.”  
“All right” Dunban agreed “I think we can do that.” He looked at the two kids and then up at the sun, before looking at the kids again. “Now, how about some food?” Two growling stomachs was all the answer he needed, as the kids blushed slightly and stared at the ground. “I thought we could eat out today, since the weather is so nice. Curry sound good?”  
“Yes!” Fiora agreed instantly. Shulk just nodded, having never eaten curry, but thought it couldn’t be too bad since so many people seemed to like it. Dunban motioned the two to follow him.  
“Let’s go then.” The walk to the commercial district was fairly calm, except for Fiora who had found out Shulk had never eaten curry before, and was telling him about all the different kinds, which ones she liked the best, and which ones to avoid. Shulk listened patiently, paying close attention to what he was told, so he could decide which curry he should try for his first time.  
He didn’t notice he was feeling more at ease with Fiora and Dunban, and he wasn’t holding on to his plush nearly as tightly as before. He had gotten the stuffed animal from his parents and had kept it with him as long as he could remember. As a habit, he would always hug it whenever he felt scared, insecure or lonely. But looking at Fioras happy smile and listening to her talk, there was no way he could feel bad. He even noticed himself smiling along with her.  
Soon the group arrived at Giorgio’s curry place in the Commercial district. At the curry place, Shulk managed to spot a mop of red hair. A closer look revealed the same boy they had ran into earlier that same day. Reyn, was it? Fiora hadn’t noticed yet, so he nudged her slightly and pointed him out. Once Fiora spotted him, she huffed in annoyance.  
“I hope he won’t bother us” she mumbled to Shulk, quietly so Dunban wouldn’t hear. Reyn suddenly noticed them when they got closer, and seemed to recognize them as well.  
“Hey!” He greeted them, waving with both arms and grinning from ear to ear like they were best friends. Dunban looked at Reyn, then at Shulk and Fiora.  
“A friend of yours?” he asked them. Shulk just shrugged, not really knowing whether the boy could be called a friend or not. Fiora shook her head.  
“We just met today. We barely know him.” She turned to Reyn. “Weren’t you supposed to go eat like, two hours ago?”  
“Well, yeah” Reyn had walked the few steps over to them. “But my parents wanted to do some shopping first, and then they started talking to people and it took forever!” he complained. “So we only got here now.”  
Shulk could understand how he felt. When adults started talking, they could go on for hours if they were allowed. Dickson thankfully didn’t, but he knew many others did.  
“Well, how about we get some curry now” Dunban asked the kids.  
“All right! Time to eat!” Reyn was very enthusiastic and more than ready to get his curry. But when they got to the curry place, Giorgio looked at them apologetically.  
“Sorry, kids. There won’t be any curry today.”  
“What!? No curry! Why not!?” Reyn yelled at the man, while Fiora was looking like she was thinking the exact same thing. “I’ve run out of Sweet Wasabi, which are an important part of the recipe. On a warm day like this, everyone want them.”  
“So we’ll get some for you, and then you can make curry for us!” Fiora declared. Everyone else stared at her like she’d said something crazy.  
“Are you sure Fiora?” Dunban asked her. “We can have curry some other day.”  
“No” Fiora insisted. “We’re having curry today.” She turned to Giorgio. “We get those Sweet Wasabi, and you make us curry, okay?” She then turned to Shulk and Reyn. “You are going to help me get them.” And finally she turned back to Dunban. “And it’s not too dangerous. We can find them outside the colony, and we’ll be careful, and then we can finally eat.”  
Dunban was clearly having an inner debate on whether he should let them go or not, but then sighed in resignation. “All right then. Just be careful, alright.” Before they had time to run off, he turned to Shulk “You’d probably better leave that here” he said, pointing at the plush in his hand. “Wouldn’t want it getting dirty, right?” Shulk looked at the plush and hesitated a moment before nodding slightly and giving it to Dunban.  
“Don’t worry about us!” Fiora told him, grabbed Shulk and Reyn, and dragged them off with her.  
Giorgio and Reyn’s parents turned to look at Dunban.  
“Think it was a good idea to let them off like that?” Giorgio asked the man, who just sighed and then shrugged.  
“Yeah” he said. “It’s Fiora after all. She would have gone even without permission.” He looked over to where the kids had just gone off to. “It’ll be good for them to get used to going outside the colony.”  
Meanwhile, the trio had just gotten to the main entrance. “All right.” Fiora took command. “We’re looking for Sweet wasabi. The best place to find them is over on Tephra hill, so let’s go there.” She looked at Reyn. “And we gotta be careful, so the monsters won’t attack us.” They both nodded, being more than ready to take on this quest. They set off to Tephra hill.  
It didn’t take them long to get there, with Fiora and Reyn dragging Shulk along, since he constantly wanted to stop to look at some creature or plant or something else. Fiora suddenly stopped. “All right, they should be growing around here somewhere. Because they are green, they can be difficult to see in the grass.” She informed the guys, before starting to look in a patch of grass next to where she was standing.  
“All right! I’m going to find the best Sweet Wasabi ever!” Reyn yelled, throwing his fist in the air in excitement. Fiora gave him an annoyed glare, while Shulk just shrugged, ignoring them both and focusing on finding these wasabi-things.  
After a few minutes of searching, they had found a total of five Sweet Wasabi. Fiora had found three, Shulk two, and Reyn zero. The redhead was obviously getting annoyed at his inability to find anything.  
“This stinks” he complained out loud, stalking over to the nearest tree and slumping down on the grass underneath it. “How hard can it be to find some stupid wasabi?” He looked around a bit, and his eyes fell on some green lumps in the ground, some ten feet away. He quickly jumped up in his feet with a loud “Hey!” and set off to get them.  
A few seconds later, he was sprawled down on the ground, having tripped over something. “Ow” he whined, rubbing his now sore hands, which were all scraped up from breaking his fall. Two seconds later he heard an angry growl from behind him.  
He turned around slowly, finding himself looking at a very angry bunnit. What he had tripped over was its tail. The bunnit, however, had not noticed him. Instead, it was looking at Shulk, who was standing right in front of it.  
Shulk, paralyzed by fear, could only stand there looking back at the bunnit. The wasabi he had found fell from his grasp and fell on the ground at his feet. The bunnit growled at Shulk and took a step toward him, preparing to attack him.  
Reyn sat on the ground, not knowing what to do. He knew he should help Shulk, but what could he do without any kind of weapon. He was just getting up to try to do something at least, to keep the monster away from Shulk.  
A rock hit the side of the bunnits head. It shook it of quickly, looking for the source of the distraction. Fiora was holding a rock in her hand, preparing to throw it at the creature. “You leave Shulk alone, you big Meany!” she yelled at the bunnit, throwing the rock at it, hitting it between the eyes.  
The bunnit seemed to just get angrier by Fioras attack. It crouched for a second, before lunching at her.  
Reyn had gathered himself at seeing Fiora stand up to the enemy, and tackled it as it jumped at her, causing it to fall over the edge of the cliff and land in the lake far below. He just barely avoided falling down after it, clinging to the Cliffside to not fall. Soon Fiora and Shulk helped him up from where he was hanging halfway of the cliff, pulling him up.  
“Thanks guys” he told them once they all were sitting on the grass, catching their breath. “Wouldn’t have been too awesome to fall down with that thing.” Fiora looked like she wanted to hit him.  
“That was really stupid, Reyn!” She almost yelled at him. “You could have died!” She seemed to calm down a little and even gave him a small smile. “But thanks anyway, for saving us. I guess your tackling things can be useful sometimes.”  
“Apparently” Reyn agreed, managing to look somewhat sheepish. “But if you hadn’t distracted it, I wouldn’t have had a chance to do it.”  
Shulk looked back and forth between the two “I couldn’t really do anything, I guess I’m not really useful in battles. Anyway, Thanks for saving me” he said to both of them.  
“Well, that wasn’t really a battle” Fiora said, hugging Shulk since he looked so down. “And it’s not like we’re supposed to be able to fight until we’re older” She paused slightly to think. “Speaking of fighting, we better not tell about it to the adults. Dunban would never let me out again”  
“Yeah, probably” Shulk agreed with her. He shifted slightly as Fiora was still hugging him. “Adults get worried easily. They wouldn’t like us fighting something without any weapons or anything” He remembered Dickson telling him he should stay safe until he learned to protect himself.  
“All right!” Reyn agreed enthusiastically. “My parents are always going on how I need training before trying to fight anything” He grinned at the other two. “This will be our secret, something just between the three of us”  
“Yeah” Fiora and Shulk both agreed. All three of them looked at each other and then out over the Cliff Lake and the slowly setting sun. The moment was suddenly interrupted by Reyns stomach loudly growling.  
“Well,” he started, turning around so the others wouldn’t see him blushing “Since we have these wasabi-things” he walked over to where he saw the wasabis before the accident with the bunnit. “How about we go get that curry now?”  
“All right” Fiora agreed while Shulk just nodded. They all grabbed some wasabi in their hands. “I’m hungry too.” She grabbed Shulks hand and dragged him along with her. “Come on Shulk. You’re about to have the best curry ever!” She turned to Reyn, who was still standing in place, staring out over the lake. “Hurry up Reyn. Or we eat all the curry!”  
“Hey, wait for me!” Reyn yelled back at her, arms full of wasabi. “I want curry, too! I’ll die if I don’t get to eat curry!”  
He ran after them as fast as he could, and caught up quickly. The three of them raced to the colony, eager for some food after their efforts to get the Sweet Wasabi. They arrived at the curry stand in no time, to find Dunban, Reyns parents and Giorgio still waiting for them. There were also some other people around, just chatting and having a drink.  
Fiora was the first to reach the stand, waving her arms as well as she could and yelled for her brother to get his attention.  
“Dunban!” She stopped in front of him, catching her breath before looking up at him with a big smile on her face. “Look, we found a ton of Sweet Wasabi!” She proudly showed him the ones in her hands, and then pointed to Shulk and Reyn to show they were also carrying a bunch of them.  
“Nice job” Dunban told her. “Took you a while, though.”  
“Well, they were kinda not so easy to find” Fiora told him in defense of their late arrival.  
Meanwhile, Reyn and Shulk had gone over to Giorgio and handed over the wasabis to the man.  
“Thanks, kids!” Giorgio told them happily. “Now I can make some curry for you guys.” He bent down and whispered to them, so no one else could hear him “And since you helped me out by getting the ingredients, I’ll give you a nice discount. How’s that sound?”  
“Sounds awesome!” Reyn yelled in excitement. His parents quickly shushed him to calm him down. They took in his dirty clothes, the tear in his jeans and scraped palms.  
“What happened to you out there?” his mother asked.  
“Huh?” Reyn looked down on himself and only now noticed the damage from their confrontation with the bunnit. “Nothing, I just tripped.” He casually, scratching the back of his head. “I got so excited when I saw some radishes I wasn’t looking where I was going.”  
Thankfully, his parents seemed to accept this, just nodding and carrying on with their conversation. He sat down next to Fiora to wait for his curry, already smelling the delicious scent of it. It would be ready in just a few more minutes. He was absentmindedly listening to Fiora blabbering on about something to Shulk, making out something about Outlook Park and the beach and fishing. She suddenly turned to him, looking somewhat hesitant. Reyn quickly looked over at the curry pot, trying to pretend like he hadn’t been listening to their conversation.  
“Hey, Reyn” Fiora started, stopping to look over her shoulder at Shulk, before continuing to address Reyn “Me and Shulk are going to go fishing tomorrow. You can come too, if you want to.”  
Reyn blinked, taken aback by the offer, but in a good way. Then he grinned happily “Yeah, sure. Sounds awesome!”

******

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